The Ukrainian manufacturer of military clothing M-TAC has an advertising face that the most renowned global brands dream of – one of the most popular leaders, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
From the beginning of the Russian invasion he
appeared in public over 30 times in clothes of this brand
In addition to Zelensky and his closest entourage, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, the head of the railways, Alexander Kamishin, and even the actor Jean-Claude van Damme wear M-TAC. As well as hundreds of thousands of military and civilian Ukrainians.
M-TAC is popular in the country among connoisseurs of military clothing style even before the war, but it gives the “child” of Alexander Karasev (47), Denis Golovko (38) and Tatyana Korzhenyuk (42) jet acceleration. The number of seamstresses grew to 750, who produced military clothing in three shifts.
The company’s projected profit for 2022 has grown 7-8 times and is expected to be around 16.25 million euros. This brings M-TAC into the “A” group of the Ukrainian light industry. Only the largest manufacturers of military uniforms and equipment, which work with government orders, have similar financial indicators and number of employed workers. The M-TAC has none.
The brand came to light because of the war in Donbass since 2014. Prior to that, the Kyivan Alexander Karasev, an artist by education, for nine years was engaged in the organization of airsoft military games, also popular as airsoft, as well as selling equipment. He got carried away with it at the beginning of the century, when in Ukraine it was difficult to find what was needed for its practice. That’s why he decided to combine hobby and business – together with his partner Tatyana Korzhenyuk, he opened the small store “Militarist” in Kyiv, which sells imported weapons and equipment for the games.
The popularity of airsoft in Ukraine is rapidly growing, as is the chain of stores “Militarist”. Before the Orange Revolution, there were already six of them – in Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnieper and Zaporozhye. Military enthusiast Karasev even has a park of military equipment, which includes several armored personnel carriers and armored trucks, which he uses in the organization of airsoftball matches.
The anti-terrorist operation in Donbas changes everything.
“War games have become unnecessary. The real thing has begun.”
says Karasev, who then sends all the equipment to the front. Tactical gear and military clothing are now purchased not by airsoft players, but by military personnel going east. A “militarist” becomes a military supplier.
At first, Karasev began importing military clothing from Europe, but the number of competitors grew exponentially. “Then I thought: Why not make a Ukrainian tactical clothing brand,” he recalls. Plans to sew part in Ukraine, the rest in China.
This is how the M-TAS brand was born. It was then that Karasev invited the designer Denis Golovko to the team, who
responsible for the appearance of the models
One of the first hits was the Aggressor tactical pants, which remained on sale for years. This is exactly what President Zelensky is doing. Karasev says that he and Golovko are developing the model in the “Militarist” warehouse. “Everything was done on the knees”, recalls Karasev with a smile. In the comments on the site, the company’s flagship pants are often compared to the Field Pants model of the cult American company Crye Precision, but these comparisons are unfounded.
When the war breaks out in 2022, from the end of February to the end of March, the queues in front of the Militarist stores are literally hundreds of meters long. They even joke on the web that in Apple stores there are such queues only when they present a new model, but in front of “Militarist” they are every day. Despite the serious competition, M-TAS wins with a lower price – almost three times cheaper.
